Tractor or other automotive vehicle



E. E. CHANDLER.

TRACTOR OR OTHER AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE.

APPLlcArloN min ri. 2. 1920.

I NVENTGR':

E. E. CHANDLER.

TRACTOR OR OTHER AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE.

APPLICAHON FILED FEB. 2. 1920.

' Y Patented May 3, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

fmfzww INVENTOR Unire sr rai# Araies.

ELBERT E. CHANDLER, F EAGLE ROCK, CALIFORNIA.-

. TACTOR OR OTHER AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE.V

' Specification of Letters Patent.

VApplication. filed February'2, 1920.L Serial No. 355,831.

Y patent is still owned by me. The objects of my improvements are a better grid wheel construction, planetary transmissions c arried by the driving wheels, a wheel frame completely rotatable in the main frame, so that progressing and reversing gears of different speed may be used for opposite purposes after turning the wheel frame half way around in the main frame, an improved steering mechanism and a double crankshaft unit engine.

I attain these objects by means of the mechanism, set forth in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view, Fig. 2 is a top view, Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of the pitch lines of one of the transmissions, Fig. 4 is a cross section of the double engine, Fig. 5 is a cross section of Figs. 1 and 2 along the line A-A and Fig. 6 is an enlarged vieweof two of the new grids. Similar figures refer to similarvpartsin all views.

Driving wheels.

1 and 1 are left and right driving wheels. They are preferably made by attaching flat steel disks to cast hubs, such as 2, whichv carry the gears to ,be described later. These disks are provided with elliptical manholes 3-3", whichgive access to the interior. The manholes are lusually kept Vclosed by the plates formed in cutting them. These plates are attached togetherv by a band such as 4 so that they may be manipulated'as a unit. These covers prevent the entrance of dirt through the disk wheels. Fastened to the disks are the diamond shaped grids or Ts such as' 5 and 5 and these are also fastened to each other as best shown in Fig. 6. They are preferably made -of strap steel,:forged to the proper shape. O They are given' this shape to produce rigidity of construction and also to present asmooth rolling surface .to the ground no matter in which direction the wheel may be rolling.

cylinders are provided.

Inclosed between the driving wheels and surrounded by the grids is the shell or drum wheel 6. This is also preferably constructed from sheet steel and the edges may be welded together. The drum wheel prevents the entrance of dirt through the grids to the inclosed power plant. Ft is notdirectly driven. It turns with the driving wheelsV when they are rotating together, but since, as will be shown, they may rotate independently and even oppositely in guiding by driving and in turning, one or the other of the sets of grids will scrape over the drum wheel and thus serve to disengage any'dirt that may have packed between the grids.

The engine. l

7 is a double engine. It has the two crankshafts 8 and 8. Each has its own flywheel. These are staggered at the middle portion of the shafts. These shafts operate the spur gears 9 and 9 by means of small spur gears such as 10 and 10', one at each end of each shaft. These gears give the first reduction between driving and driven parts as will be shown later. rlhel gear 9 also serves to actuate the overhead valve system, by the gear 1 1, the cam shaft 12 and the cam levers such as 13 and 13',

could also be accomplished by a V motor,

but for tractor purposes, because of continuous heavy'loads, more crankshaft bearing Patented May 3, 1921.

is lrequired than inv automobile practice. Multicyhnder motors arev also desirable as 1 they provide more `piston surface for a given displacement and thus g'ivel the cylinder walls a longer life than where fewer Passing through the center of the support or axle shaft 14 and a similar one is the live shaft 15. tached to this is the'spur gear 16 -meshing with the cogs cut in the flywheel 17. As

the crankshafts are' vnot accessible tothe exterior ofthe driving wheels without reand internal gears 25 and 26.

. and 21.

moving the manhole covers,this central shaft provides' a means for starting the engine and for transmission of power for stationary purposes. Attached to this shaft are the fans 18 and 18' and 4the -water pump 19. 20 and 20 are radiators formed of small copper tubes bent circularly with their ends fastened to the axle supports 2l It is intended for the water to be circulated in series through the engine and the two radiators, the hollow support ing axles serving as a part of the conduit system. The' hollow axles are rigidly attachedto the supports to prevent the engine from rotating when rotating the driving wheels. They may however be freed from this attachment and the whole power plant rotated to make its parts more accessible in repair work.

Transmission.

The driving mechanism is of the planetary type. This requires the use of brake drums and bands instead ot clutches. When the machine guides by driving, necessitating frequent disengagement of' driving and driven parts the planetary type of transmission `presents advantages. It is easier to maintain brakes than clutches, because the former are stationary when engaged and the latter are moving. As both driving wheels are similarly actuated it will be suicient to describe only the left one in, Figs. 2, 3 and 5. As before stated the crankshafts both drive the spur gear 9, which rotates on -the axle 14. Attached to it is the spur gear 22. This engages the planetary gears 23, 23 and 23". These are attached by shafts bearing in the hub of the driving wheel 2, to the smaller gears 24, 24 and 24" and these engage simultaneously the external To these are attached the brake drums 27 and 28 and these are engaged by the brake band 29 on contracting or expanding. The brake band is actuated by cams on the steering shaft 30 and the steering lever 3l. Rotatably mounted on the -shaft is the turning lever The steering and turning levers are attached to each other by the coil spring 33. The turning lever may be held in position to cause the brake band to engage either of the drums by mea-ns of the ratchet lsegment 34. lVhen the driverdesires to turn slightly to one side as in guiding by driving he simply pulls back on the steering lever on that side until the brake drum is released. If he de` sires to turn more sharply he may pull it far enough back to engage the other drum and reverse this wheel. He stops by placing. the turning lever in thev middle position on the ratchet segment. He may pull both steering levers far enough back to reverse both wheels and thus back the tractor. He changes the progressing speed of the machine by turning the wheel frame half'way around in the main frame and then utilizes the other brake drum for progressin f as the internal and external gears attache to the drums give different speeds. This change is accomplished by manipulating the turning levers as follows: They are disengaged from their segments. One is pulled back and the other held forward. When the op- Frames.

As before stated there is amain frame and a wheel trame. .The latter may bear in the former by means of rollers in order to reduce the friction otherwise arising from such large bearing surfaces. 35 is the main or trailer frame. It is provided with the side members 36, 36', 37 and 37. These serveas supports for the boxes 38, 38', 39 and 39', which carry the double cranks 40 and 40', which carry the trailer wheels 4i and 4l', by means of the bearing shafts 42 and 42', which are longitudinally adjustable in the crank arm supports. The trailer wheels may' thus be set on either side of the side bars or between them. They may also be moved forward or backward on the side bars and thus accommodate themselvesA to any implement that may be carried by the trailer frame. They are also perpendicuf larly adjustable by the rotation of the crank arms in the boxes. Attached to the wheel shafts are the coil springs 43 and 43', which are in turn attached to the perpendicular shafts 44 and 44 operated by the wheels 45 and 45' to wind up or unwind the coils 46 and 46 and thus change the elevation of the trailer frame. One wheel maybe set lower than the other so that it may follow the furrow when plowing. The coil springs allow both trailerwheels to follow uneven ground, without tending to lift each other from-it. Mechanism may also be easily applied to automatically -litt the trailer frame by the revolution of the-Wheel frame in the main frame when turning.

47, 47 and 47". are tanks carried by the wheel frame. 47 may contain heavier fuel', 47 lighter fuel for starting and 47 water which may be in series with the two radiators. After passing around the engine cylinders the hot water would pass through the annularV space between the hollow a e and the starting shaft, thence through the pump, thence around the radiator, thence .to the tank 47", thence to the other radiator if a second one is provided, thence through thev other hollow axle and to the engine again. The fuel pipe may also pass through this annular space, either through the hot water side or the cool Waterside as may be preferred. The exhaust gases pass between the two rows of cylinders in opposite directions and may exit through the planetary gear system and by the brake drums. This will serve to prevent the entrance of dirt there and may catch some of the exhaust oil that would otherwise be lost. vThe tor tuous passage will provide a muier and serve to prevent ignition of grain fields by the exhaust. i

Having thus described my invention desire to claim certain combinations of the features shown.

l. 'Ihe combination in a tractor of ri ht and left driving wheels, a shell wheel tween them and diamond sha ed Ts, at tached to the wheels and to eac other and resting on the shell wheel.

2. The combination in a tractor of a main iframe, a wheel frame, entirely rotatable within the main frame, driving whels within the wheel frame, a power plant within the driving wheels, with crank shaft parallel to their axis and independently operating transmission systems between the opposite ends of the power plant and the driving wheels.

' 3. The combination in a tractor of a main frame, a wheel frame entirely rotatable within the main frame, driving wheels within the wheel frame and supporting it, a power plant within the driving wheels and independent'transmissions between the power plant and driving wheels, each of which is provided with unequal speed progressing and reversing gear, so that each may serve the opposite purpose, after turning the wheel frame half way around in the main frame.

4. The combination in a tractor of. driving wheels, driving gears concentric with the driving wheels, planetary gears engaging the driving gears and carried by the driving wheels, other planetary gears attached to the first ones, internal and external gears, engaging the second planetary gears and brakes engaging the internal and external gears.

' 5. The combination in a tractor of driving wheels, planetary gearing carried by the driving wheels, internal and external gears engaging the planetary gears and concentric with the driving wheels, brakes engaging the concentric gears, brake levers engaging thev brakes and ratchet levers elastically at# tached to the brake levers.

6. The combination in a tractor of a wheel frame, a hollow axle attached to. the wheel frame, driving wheels bearing on the axle, a power plant within the driving wheels and suspended from the hollow axle and a radiator system in circuit with the hollow axle.

7. The combination in a tractor of a wheel frame, a hollow axle attached to the wheel frame, driving wheels bearing on the' hollow axle, a power' plant within the driving wheels and suspended from the hollow axle and va starting vand stationary work shaft within the hollow axle and actuating and actuated by the ower plant. v

EIBERT E. CHANDLER. 

